Seize The Birthday - Kraft Plus One Other Colour

Hello!  It's time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and Colleen has chosen Kraft and Another Colour.

I plumped for pink.  I stamped the images from Thankful by Art Journal Love at Funky Fossil, and added colour with watercolour pencils.  The sentiment is from MFT.  It didn't really stand out enough against the kraft background, so I added a white pen shadow to make it pop, then added a few white highlights.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team and our surprise party guests, and play along with us.  If kraft doesn't float your boat, you can play along with any birthday theme.

Happy stamping!

Visible Image - Celebrate With Sketched Tulips

Hello peeps, I've got a Visible Image twofer for you today, using the Sketched Tulips set along with the Celebrate sentiment from Birthday Wishes.

I knew from the outset what my layout was going to be (which is unusual for me!) so I started by stamping the tulip image, and stamped a spare in case I messed up.

I inked up the script stamp with Black Soot distress ink, then spritzed it before stamping at the bottom of the panel, but it stamped too dark for what I wanted, and I didn't like how it overlapped the tulip leaves.  So I reinked it with Hickory Smoke and spritzed a little harder, masking the leaves, and hey presto, that was what I wanted.

But I wasn't going to waste that panel!  On the left-hand panel I used a Speedball Elegant Writer pen (showcased by Loll in this card) to 'colour' the tulip.  You just add a bit of the pen to the outline, then bleed it out with a wet brush.  The ink bleeds into hints of blue and red.

On the right-hand panel I watercoloured the tulip and surround with Hickory Smoke.

Then I found some inky panels in my stash, cut them to size and stamped the word Celebrate onto them.Then it was just a case of assembling the panels onto black card.

Here's a close-up of the Speedball Elegant Writer version,and the Hickory Smoke version.Pop on over to the Visible Image store for these fab designs, and many more!

Seize The Birthday - Embossing Wet or Dry

Hello, we've got our first challenge of 2024 at Seize The Birthday, chosen by Cathy, and it's Embossing Wet or Dry, so there's plenty of scope for you.

I went with a Tim Holtz 3D embossing folder and used the debossed side, using the technique showcased by Erum Tasneem of blending darker ink over the panel.  The blended ink picks up loads of detail from the ridges on the debossed image.

The embossing folder is Roses, the stamped text is from CMS241 Ledger Script and the happy birthday is from CMS325 Glorious Bouquet.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the design team, and from our three (yes, three!) surprise party guests, so you've got extra inspiration this month :)

Visible Image - Happy New Year!

Hello, peeps, and happy 2024!  I've started the New Year with fireworks on this fab sparkly card to celebrate the new crafting year and my New Year's resolutions, which I probably won't stick to, haha!

I started by smooshing Distress Ink colours onto card.

Then covered the smooshing with the Frosty Stencil and added Black Soot Oxide.  I like the Oxides for backgrounds, they give great coverage and a smooth velvety finish.

I stamped the cocktail glasses (just like the two I got for Christmas!) and olives from the Cocktails And Dreams set onto spare white card, coloured them and diecut them with the matching dies.

I diecut the numbers from the White Rabbit dies set using glitter card, then mounted everything onto my card base, posing the glasses.

Finally, I added some Stickles here and there for a bit of firework sparkle.

Pop on over to the Visible Image store where you can find these, and other fabulous stamps, stencils and dies.

Happy crafting in 2024!

Visible Image - Ho! Ho! Ho!

Hey, peeps, it's my turn for a DT post for Visible Image, and I'm still in Christmas mode (and will be till early January - I just keep going while I've got all the Christmas stuff out).

I had these three characters from the Christmas Jumper set already coloured from a previous session, so I just fussy cut them ready for the next stage.

These are the Zig colours I used:

I placed the cut out images on craft cardstock, then masked a small area underneath each image where the Ho!s were going to go.

Then I removed the images and splattered the card with white gouache.

I use a plastic shot glass for the gouache.  It dries out when not in use, but then I just have to spritz a few drops of water to revive it and it's good to go.

I made pencil marks roughly where the centres of the images would be then stamped the Ho! sentiment, rotating slightly each time.

My original idea was for the three images to be wobble action, but when it got to the construction stage, there was too much wobble for the size of the images and they were sitting too proud, so I abandoned that and went with setting them at a jaunty angle using foam tape to give them a bit of height and imply movement.

The Christmas Jumper set is such a fun set.  Apart from these images and the Ho! sentiment, you get the jumper and two other sentiments - it's very versatile!  Pop on over to the Visible Image store and have a look!

Visible Image - Sax It Up!

Hello there, it's time for my Visible Image DT post, and today I've got a twofer for you using the fabulous Sax It Up stencil.  I like to ink my stencils to make mono prints, and invariably there's enough ink left after the first print to spritz again and get a second, lighter print.

I used Distress Ink minis to ink up the stencil.  The ink will naturally bead up, and beads up bigger when you spritz it with water.  Once spritzed, I flipped it and laid it on my card, covered it with a piece of kitchen roll and squashed the beading down.
If you've spritzed enough water, once you squash the stencil down, the spritzed ink will spread along the stencil to give a complete image.  It was still a little patchy, as you can see through the stencil, but it still gave a decent print.  And there was enough ink left on the stencil to get a second print.

This time the watered-down ink spread further, and gave a paler print.  I forgot to take photos of the prints before I added the backgrounds!

I replaced the cleaned stencil back onto the first print and sponged Antique Linen and Rusty Hinge distress inks onto the background.  

On the second print, I blended Black Soot distress ink.

I couldn't get a black enough coverage, so I swapped to Distress Oxide and got a really good black.

So then it was a case of trimming and mounting the panels to make cards.

I like how (some of) the mottled parts of the image imply highlights, and how the purple of the trousers bleeds into the white border on this card.  And the golden glow of the background.

The solid black background balances well with the loose colours on this print.  I trimmed away the white borders at the top and bottom and mounted it onto yellow card to pick out the yellow highlights, and added a strip of music washi tape at the bottom.

Did you notice that I didn't use the full width of the stencil?  Don't be afraid to crop images to fit your card, it gives the impression of zooming in on the subject.

You can get this and other fabulous stencils at the Visible Image store, pop on over and have a look!

Seize The Birthday - Fall items

Hi folks, it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday - in fact, it's our last challenge until the New Year.

I've gone for chrysanthemums.  My dad used to grow them in the garden, and I always loved the bronze coloured ones.

The diecut flowers are Tim Holtz, as is the mica-sprayed background.  I only made this in October, but for the life of me I can't remember how I coloured the chrysanths!  I can see that I dipped them into something on my craft mat, so I'm guessing it was probably Jack o'Lantern and Bubbling Cauldron mica stains, then Flickering Candle painted on the centres of the daisies.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from our surprise party guests and the rest of the design team, and play along with us!